


Match Maker, Match Maker

by MaruEatsFalafel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Drunk Scorpius, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, Humor, M/M, Romance, Slash, Soulmates, weasleys only fall in love once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 19:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2080725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaruEatsFalafel/pseuds/MaruEatsFalafel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Al Potter is in love, so naturally Rose, Roxi, and Scorpius decide to help him out, with disastrous results. Crossposted from FF.net</p>
            </blockquote>





	Match Maker, Match Maker

“It happened, it just...HAPPENED. BOOM! Out of nowhere,” Albus said as he threw himself into the booth next to Zach.

“Al, mate, what are you on about?” Zach cringed away from his friend, leaning into Clara who seemed taken aback by Al’s explosive entrance. Roxi glared.

“Score take his temp, he seems ill,” Rose muttered to the group dryly. Scorpius smirked and leaned across the booth, putting his hand to Albus’s forehead.

Al scowled. “I mean, I’ve found The One!”

“‘S’that a new potion?” Roxi grumbled, although her glare had been replaced by a look of mild annoyance.

“Potion? Is that a euphemism?”

“Okay, I’ll bite,” Scorpius sighed, ignoring Clara, “who is it?”

“Do you remember Vic’s friend? Reena? She--

“WHAT?!” Rose choked on her coffee.

“But--

“Aww, that’s sweet. You found love,” Clara crooned.

Roxi’s eyebrows hit her hairline, and she turned to Clara, “Come on! He’s fucking GAY!” Clara looked confused and hurt, Zach put his arm around her shooting Roxi a disapproving glance.

“She’s also six years older than you,” Scorpius added

“Not to mention she’s about to have a baby with Jacob!” Rose hit Scorpius upside the head, as if he should have known better.

Al took a moment to scrutinize each one of his friends before slowly saying, “Er... can I finish?”

Roxi thought for a moment, before smiling for the first time, although it was probably a grimace. “I don’t know if I want you too.”

Al continued anyway. “Well I was assigned to work on a muggle co-op project with her brother, Rehan, and we got together to talk about the project today, and now I’m pretty sure he’s it for me.”

“That’s great man, I’m happy things are working out,” Zach said clapping Al on the back.

“‘I’m happy things are working out,’” Roxi mimicked in high-pitched tone. Reverting back to her normal voice she said. “Bloody brilliant, and you couldn’t have just said Rehan earlier?”

“What’s got you in a piss poor mood then?” Al scowled.

Rose glanced at Roxi. “Someone hasn’t gotten over their ex.”

Al raised an eyebrow, still confused as Roxi growled.  “Shut up.”

“Oh! Is Rehan your ex? That’ll be awkward,” Clara said sympathetically reaching across the table to pat Roxi’s hand comfortingly. Roxi stiffened, while Zach pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Oh, you have no idea,” grinned Rose.

“About what?” Clara’s head tilted to the side with confusion.

Scorpius suppressed a smirk as he clarified, “About how awkward things already are.” Al shook his head, expression resigned, yet amused.

“Would you all just shut up about Roxi’s ex?!” Zach snapped.

A second later Clara had draped herself over Zach’s shoulder as she crooned, “Aw, baby, it’s so sweet that you defend your friends.” She planted a wet kiss on his cheek for good measure, while Zach looked stricken.

Rose was staring at the couple with morbid fascination as she slyly snagged Scorpius’ tea cup and took a sip. She scowled and spit it back into his cup. “Euh, that stuff is disgusting!”

“Rose, you know you hate my tea! Why on earth did you drink it?” Scorpius said, pushing the teacup towards Rose. “Here. I don’t plan on drinking your spit.”

“Don’t you already? Albus jumped in, eager to get his back.

“Not funny,” Rose and Scorpius said together.

“Disgusting, actually,” Roxi said, wrinkling her nose, “she’s my cousin!”

“And he’s mine!” Zach added.

“OK, it is pretty disgusting. She’s my cousin and he’s my best friend.” Al shuddered in horror. “I’m scarred for life.”

“Your own fault.” Rose said firmly. She leaned over and kissed Scorpius.

“Eurghhh!”

“My eyes, my eyes!”

“Get a room!”

“So you’re all related?”

“Private school,” Zach lied. “It happens.”

“I suppose,” Clara said uncertainly. “What school was it?.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t know it, it’s not around here,” Scorpius replied, taking pity on his cousin. Rose and Roxi both glared at him.

“Hm, I see. I didn’t realize that you were so posh Zach. I was under the impression, until now, that you were a lowly commoner like myself!”

Al snorted, “He’s just full of surprises.”

Suddenly a smile was scrawled over Roxi’s features. She shot a meaningful look at Rose and changed tactics. “So, Clara, it’s seems like Zach has been keeping a lot from you.”

“But don’t worry,” Rose added. “Zach’s been like this with everyone for the last few years.”

“We’d be happy to explain anything to you if you like,” Roxi said leaning towards Clara conspiratorially.

“Bloody hell you two! I’m right here,” Zach snapped.

“I know,” Roxi smirked in Zach’s direction, then turned back to Clara.  “Feel free to ignore him as you see fit.”

“I think we should go back to talking about Rehan. Al, you still haven’t given us any real information,” Zach said somewhat desperately.

“Well, I mean, he’s really friendly, and swee--”

“Al, is  he gay?” Rose asked, slightly concerned.

“Er, yeah, but-”

“But what?! Is he not single?” Roxi worried.

“Wha, I, I’m not sure.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE NOT SURE?!” Scorpius hated suspense.

“Well he’s not going to flat out ask him, is he?” Zach stated as if it should have been obvious. “Don’t worry Al, we’ll find out for you.”

“Aw, I mean, and if he is with someone else, there are always other guys,” Clara said sympathetically.

Albus looked stricken, and Zach cringed.

“Oh, see, there’s the problem. With Potters and Weasleys there really isn’t,” Scorpius said. “They only fall in love once. Right Rosie?”

“Oh dream on,” She said, but she was smiling and didn’t pull away when Scorpius leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“So this happens to every person in your family?” Clara asked surprised.

“Yup, it’s a curs-- curious thing,” Rose said. “Like my dad claims to have been mad for my mum since they were fourteen,”

“And their cousin Vic proposed to my cousin Teddy when she was, what, six?” Scorpius supplied.

“That doesn’t count genius,”

“Well you never know, my mum decided she was going to marry my dad when she was ten, and had never even spoken to him before,” Al stated morosely.

“So Rehan is your one then?,” Clara continued when Al nodded. “And Scorpius is Rose’s?”

“Obviously,” Scorpius grinned.

“So what about you Roxi, have you found your one and only?”

“No, not--” Roxi started awkwardly, but Rose cut her off.

“Yes, don’t lie Roxi!” Rose exclaimed exasperatedly. “She actually has.”

“What? You found...WHAT?” Zach sounded confused and maybe angry.

“Well, mate, you were there weren’t you?” Al said pointedly.For a moment everyone was silent. Roxi was glaring at her hands, resting on the table, while Zach stared, open mouthed, at Roxi.

“You mean...” Clara started, “they were... oh, god...” as the truth dawned on Clara it was confirmed by the sorrowful looks Al, Scorpius, and Rose were exchanging. “Zach you arsehole! Get up right now and let me out of this sodding booth right now if you know what’s good for you!” Clara hissed.

Al instantly jumped up pulling Zach out of the booth with him. Clara stood up and then addressed Roxi, “At first I thought you were just a stuck up bitch, but now I realize it was totally justified. I’m really sorry you have to spend the rest of your life stuck on him” she gestured at Zach, “I truly am.” Then Clara turned around and made her way swiftly out of the cafe.

Zach stood completely still looking shell shocked and as if he’d been hit with the body bind curse. Al and Scorpius both looked torn between punching him and comforting him. Rose was watching Roxi carefully as if she might explode at any minute, and Roxi simply stared at the door behind which Clara had vanished. Finally she said, “Rose, Score, let me out. I’ve got to do something.”

The two obliged silently and then everyone in the vicinity watched as Roxi ran out the door of the cafe. She looked down the road in each direction until she spotted who she was looking for about two blocks to her right. Then Roxi took off running behind her. It wasn’t until Clara reached the traffic signal at the end of the third block and stopped that Roxi was in shouting distance.

“Oi -- Clara! Hey -- wait!” Roxi yelled between pants, looking relieved when Clara turned around to see her running her direction.

“Oh, Roxi?” Clara sounded unsure.

“Yeah. Yeah, I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry.” Roxi said. “I know I was out of line with you, but my anger was misdirected. I was really mostly angry at Zach, but you were with him and all over him and, and I was a total hag to you.”

“Really Roxi, it’s all right. I mean Zach and I weren’t together very long. It was fun, but I don’t think we’d have lasted much longer anyhow.”

“Oh right. Ok. I’m still sorry, and I actually think you’re kind of cool after your exit,” Roxi admitted.

“Ha, thanks. And maybe we could hang out sometime? I mean you and Rose seem pretty fun, even if your taste in men is sub par,” Clara grinned

“I guess maybe we could talk about it sometime. Maybe you could grab a friend and Rose could come and we could have a girl’s night thing,” Roxi looked thoughtful, “but not at my place, seeing as I live on Al’s couch.”

“Yeah, sure Roxi. And it means a lot to me that you apologized.”

“Anytime, but I’ll see you around, yeah?” Roxi said genuinely.

“Sure, but I best get going. I see you have a search party after you,” Clara nodded to behind Roxi and sure enough Al was walking towards them, hands buried in his pockets, a concerned look on his face. Then she smiled, turned and kept walking the way she had been before she was hailed.

***

Al was working feverishly in his potions laboratory. He was due to meet Rehan in 10 minutes, but had to finish one step on a potion he was working on for retail. Suddenly,  Roxi’s head popped up from a trapdoor on the floor. “Hey, Al, I was wondering if--”

“Roxi, what are you doing in my potions laboratory?”

“Um... you do know its just your loft, don’t you?”

“My loft is very important, I’ll have you know.”Al announced, steadily stirring as he talked.

“Does that mean I can have your room? No, hear me out-- you basically live up here anyway, so it would really make more sense for me to get a bed.”

“You can’t take my room!”  
  


“Why not?” Roxi asked, waving her hands about.

“It is my flat, you know.” Al said, turning around to pick up a vial for the potion. “And make sure not to knock anything over.”

“Yes, but you literally only use the kitchen and the loft.”

“I also happen to sleep in my bed, which is in my bedroom.”

“But you have this lovely couch!” Roxi exclaimed.  Both of them turned their heads to look at the tiny divan of moss green.

“Lovely?”

“Well-- Al, look behind you!”

“Like I’m going to fall for that. You’ll just shove me or something.” He turned back to his potion to pick up another ingredient, then cringed. “You distracted me! Quick, pass me three porcupine quills and one eel’s spleen. And be absolutely quiet.” Al ordered, quickly grabbing ingredients in order to try and stop the cauldron from emitting purple smoke.

“Here.” Roxi said, thrusting ingredients into Al’s hand. As he dropped them in, the potion lessened to a simmer and the smoke thinned. Al was waving his wand slowly over the cauldron.

Roxi brushed off her hands “Well that was clo-” FWOOSH.

“Roxi!” Al said exasperatedly, turning to her with singed hair and splattered clothes.

“Sorry?” she said hopefully. “I suppose this means no room.”

Al frowned. “Now I have to change my clothes. And do you know how dangerous that could have been?”

“Why are you blaming me? I didn’t make the potion explode.”

“You talked before I was done fixing it! You ruined my concentration.”

“Oh, well sorry to have interrupted a great genius at work.” Roxi said, sarcasm seeping out of her voice. “Don’t you have more important things to do than yelling at me?”

“I do, as a matter of fact. I have a meeting with Rehan at 10 o’clock.”

“Its ten-fifteen.”

“Shit.” Al yanked open the trapdoor and ran down the spiral staircase into the kitchen.

“Aww, you’re so excited!” Roxi smirked. “Look at you, getting ready for your date. My little boy, all grown up.” She gave a theatrical sniff.

“I am not excited, it is not a date, and I’m not your boy.” Al called out from his room.

“That’s a lie, and you wish it was.” Roxi replied.

“Too true.” Al muttered, apparating away.

He arrived behind a small coffee shop that Rehan had described to him. It was clearly muggle, but nobody seemed to have noticed his sudden appearance. Walking in, Al scanned the room for Rehan.

“You look singed,” said an amused voice from beside him. Rehan was sitting and suppressing a smile.

“I blame my cousin,” Al complained, sliding into the chair across and trying to surreptitiously rub his face free from soot. “She distracted me while I was working and made a potion explode.”

“What potion? And actually, which cousin?”

“Oh, it wasn’t anything important. I was just making a potion for migraines. And it was Roxi.”

“You have migraines?”

“No, it was for an order.” Al frowned. “Now I’ll have to re-brew it all. But it isn’t a big deal or anything. Sorry for keeping you waiting here.”

“No, its alright. I thought you just forgot or something.”

“I would never forget about yo-- our project.” Al said, eyes wide.

“Speaking of yo -our project,”  Rehan said with a smirk, “we should probably get to work on it.”

 

“Probably.” Al agreed. “So, we’ll be exploring the role of magic as a catalyst in the chemical reactions that occur during the process of making a potion.”

“Right. We need to come up with a presentation, maybe even an exhibition of some sort, where we can show this, because it could be really important for both worlds. And if we find something important, they said they may even designate a team to work on it further.”

“And that’ll also make it much easier to develop new potions.” Al said, nodding. “Muggles really can be brilliant!”

 

Rehan laughed. “Right. So, we should probably start by setting up some deadlines and goals for us, so we don’t get too distracted. We only have two weeks.”

 

“Us? We would stay completely on task.” Al said confidently. “Do you want to go order coffee before we get into the details?”

 

“Sure.” Rehan agreed. “The staff members were giving me dirty looks earlier, since I was taking up a spot without ordering or paying.”

 

“Once, when Rose worked in a cafe over the summer, there was this guy that would come everyday, order the cheapest thing they had, and sit there for hours on a -d’you know what a laptop is?”

“ University, remember?”

 

“Right, how silly of me- you’re a sophisticated college student.” Al said as they approached the counter.

 

“Morning, what can I get you?” the barista asked cheerfully.

 

“Er- I’ll have a cappuccino.”  Rehan said, reaching into his pocket to pay.

 

“Oh, I’ve got it.” Al quickly said, nudging him out of the way, “I’ll have a black coffee, thank you.”

 

“You don’t need to pay. I can get it.”

 

“Oh, I’ll make you pay next time.” Al said, resisting the urge to wink at Rehan. He handed some pound notes over.

 

“Very sweet of you.” Rehan said wryly. “How do you have mu- money?”

 

“Oh, I try always to have some with me. Besides, my grandfather is an enthusiast, so we know a lot about- well, things. We even watch shows on the telly.”

 

“I’ve watched some things,” Rehan said, “although some were horrid. Your sister used to talk about muggle shows often. How is she, by the way?”

 

“Wait, you know Lily? How?”

 

“School, I suppose,” came the evasive reply. “Oh, they just called our names.” He picked up both cups and walked back to the table.

“Something just occured to me.”

 

“Yes?” Rehan said, spooning sugar into his coffee.

 

“Even if we are just sitting here and talking, aren’t we still brea- how many spoonfuls of sugar do you put in coffee?”

 

“I like sugar. It helps me think straight.” Rehan shrugged.

 

“Pity. Three heaping spoons?”

 

“Don’t you like sugar?” Rehan said. “Everyone likes sugar. You can’t not.”

 

“I do, just not in my coffee.”

 

“Curiouser and curiouser. Sorry- what were you saying before I distracted you?”

 

“Oh- just, aren’t we breaking the Statutes of Secrecy?”

 

“Probably.  Should we talk somewhere else?”

 

“My flat, then?”

 

“Sure. My dorm room is tiny and cramped, so your flat it is. Though it can’t be for too long- I have a class at one, and I can’t just apparate there.” Rehan pulled out his chair and rose.

 

“We probably shouldn’t apparate to my flat with coffee either.” Al said. “We can walk there, it isn’t too far at all.”

 

***

 

Roxi was lounging on Al’s couch, with Rose and Scorpius sprawled out next to her.“You know, Scor,” she complained, “I really only called Rose over.”

 

“Well, I didn’t have training today. I didn’t fancy sitting alone in my house.”

 

Roxi sighed. “Fine. You better not eat any of my food.”

 

“Your food?” Scorp began, “It-- hang on, Al’s coming up the stairs.”

 

“Quick, switch it to a scene with Captain Jack.” Rose sat up. “Alright you two: Operation Embarrass Albus Potter.”

***

 

Rehan waited while Al unlocked the door. “Are there people in there? Because there are voices.”

 

“Oh, just my cousin Roxi. Though I don’t know why she’d be talking to herself.” He pushed open the door.

 

“No wonder Al thinks he’s hot,” Rose’s voice sighed, while Al, still standing in the doorway paled significantly.

 

“Oi!” Scorpius shoved her shoulder as she cackled at his reaction.

 

“Doesn’t he have a life sized poster of him in his old bedroom, at Grimmauld place?” Roxi said innocently.

 

“Shut up Roxi!” Al said embarrassedly, blushing now. All three on the couch turned around to look at him. Seeing Rehan, Rose and Roxi lit up as if Christmas had come early.

 

“What do you think of him, Rehan?” Rose asked sweetly.

 

“Er- who is that, exactly?” Rehan replied, squinting at the man on the television.

 

“Doesn’t matter.” Roxi said. “More importantly, do you have a boyfriend?”

 

“N-”

 

“Okay, thats it.” Al said firmly. “We’re going to the potions lab.” He grabbed Rehan’s arm and pulled him towards the kitchen.

 

“Its tiny and has a couch, Rehan.” Rose called out.

 

“Don’t worry, it isn’t that small.” Scorpius yelled towards their backs. “Plenty of room for both of you.”

 

Rehan started up the spiral staircase, having been dragged there. “So what was that, exactly?”

 

“That was...yeah. Ignore them, Rose and Roxi in the same building is generally painful for everyone else involved.”

 

“I’ve noticed.” Rehan said dryly, as Al pushed open the trapdoor and clambered into the loft. Along one side ran a counter, temporarily coated with a thick purple slime. The space was long and narrow, and on the far end hung a number of cauldrons. Cupboards lined the two long walls, and a bookshelf crammed with potions books was on the wall next to the staircase. On the side, opposite from the counter, was the notorious couch.

 

“Well, this is my potions lab... it usually isn’t so gooey. There was-”

 

“-an accident, yeah. Its fine.” He took out his wand. “Scourgify.”

 

“Thanks.” Al said. “Well, we can just... work, I suppose. Er- we can sit down here. On the couch.” There was a pause.

 

“Brilliant.” Rehan nodded his head slowly, then sat down. “We can write down whatever we brainstorm.”

 

“Brainstorm. Right. Er- parchment.” The two stared at eachother for a moment, then Al opened a cupboard and grabbed parchment and ink. “We’ll probably be working here quite a lot.” He gestured around at the small space.

 

“Shall we start by picking what potions we will look at?” Rehan said, trying to fill the silence that permeated the room.

 

“Sounds good. I was thinking that we might want to start with simple potions so that we could look at the chemical properties of each ingredient individually.” Both wizards sat down, and Al conjured up a small table. Soon they were both leaning over the parchment, taking turns writing

and talking their ideas out.

***

 

Rehan closed the door behind him as he stepped in to his dorm room. He tossed his bag on the floor, and collapsed onto his bed with a smile on his face. The frame gave an ominous creak, and shuddered; when Rehan had first moved into the room, he had been afraid his bed would devolve into a pile of plywood and scrap metal every time he laid down, but after a few months he learned to ignore the frame’s groans, he barely noticed it now.

 

He glanced over at his roommate, Brad Peters’, bed, he was relieved to see it was vacant. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Peters, but he was never quite sure what to make of him, given that he’d seen the bloke sober a total of two times since they had become roommates, Rehan didn’t have much faith in the kid’s mental capacity. At least he wasn’t rude, but his messiness was enough to drive Rehan mad.

 

The years in Muggle college had made Rehan used to rarely talking to wizards he didn’t already know.  In college, he didn’t have many close friends-- hiding half of his life away wasn’t conducive to forming close relationships. Of course, he talked to his family quite often. His sisters, had made a habit of randomly showing up to see him, and had made friends with most of his floor.

 

It had been ages since he had talked about magical theory.  It was nice, he realized, to not have to watch your every word for a slip up, and to talk to people who weren’t family.  Talking to Al, he felt like he could be himself, not having to cover up his magic. Unlike when he worked with others in his college classes, working with Al was as much about tangential conversations as actual productivity.  It wasn’t something he was used to, because it hadn’t happened since Hogwarts. There was also the fact that it seemed like Al was flirting with him, but it could just be wishful thinking.

 

His phone started vibrating on the foot of his bed. He reached across and grabbed it. “Hello?”

 

“Hey Rehan, some of us are going to go get drinks. Want to come?”

 

“I dunno, I have some work Ben.”

 

“Come on mate!, it’ll be a lark!”

 

“That’s no-- well, alright then. See you in ten at The Silver Door?”

 

“Fantastic.”

 

Rehan hung up and slipped his phone into his pocket. He had friends who he would hang out with often, but that wasn’t like having close friends. He had dated a bit , but never seriously.

 

Rehan shrugged on his jacket and apparated a block away from the pub, walking the rest of the way. He stepped in to the pub, and as always was reminded vaguely of The Three Broomsticks, and today it was quite comforting. It was crowded and noisy because of all the students who frequented it, and had chrome furnishings.  Blue walls and glass tables reflected the shining surfaces to create a dappled effect. Behind the counter, bartenders bustled back and forth.

 

“Oi, over here!” Rehan turned his head to see Ben, with some other mates of theirs. He headed over and  sat at the counter next to them.

 

“‘Lo!” he said cheerfully.

 

“Someone’s in a good mood today.” Jake said. He was thinner than a beanpole and had strawberry blonde hair that fell into his eyes.

 

“Yeah, I had coffee with a bloke from high school.”

 

“What, like a date?”

 

“Nah.”

 

“Bet you wish it was.” Ben teased.

Rehan just shrugged. “Probably,” he agreed, thinking of Al’s sheepish smile.

“Are you going to see him again?” Brian asked, watching as the bartender filled up his mug.

“Er-- yeah.” Rehan said, then turned to the bartender. “I’ll have whatever you have on tap.”

“Bring him along for drinks some time.” Jake said. “The strangest thing happened to me this morning. This little kid attaches herself to my leg and started singing Edelweiss. When I asked her where her parents were she told me her house elf was babysitting her today.”

“What the hell is a house elf?” Rehan said attempting to color his voice with curiosity.

“That’s what I wanted to know!” All of them laughed.

Brian grinned. “It’s probably what her parents call her nanny to make it more fun,” he snorted.

“House elf, really? That’s what fun these days?” Ben raised his eyebrows.

Jake turned to them in mock horror. “What do you mean, everyone loves father Christmas!”

“I can see it.” Rehan said.

“Of course you can,” Brian said patting Rehan on the shoulder.

***

The minute Rehan had left, Al had turned to his cousins and glared. “What was that for?” he demanded.

“It was Scorpius too!” Roxi protested.

“I tried, mate.” Scorpius said. “But I really can’t handle sleeping on the couch for a week.”

“Aww, it would only be two days.” Rose said sweetly, making puppy-dog eyes.

“See! Even Scor doesn’t have to sleep on the couch for more than a week.” Roxi said at once.

“You guys are totally missing the point!” Al collapsed on the middle of the couch, lying across everyone’s laps. “That is quite literally the love of my life. And you just told him I have a picture of Captain Jack in my bedroom.” He looked ready to pout. “You said you’d help, not embarrass me into nothingness.”

 

Rose patted his head. “Al, we weren’t trying to embarrass you.”

“And look at the plus side: we know he doesn’t have a boyfriend.” Scorpius added.

“No thanks to you, Al.” Roxi said smugly. “We help in our own way, that’s all.”

“Don’t drag me into this,” Scorpius said firmly. “Al, I will help you like a normal person.”

“Ri--ight.” Al  complained. “You’ll listen to whatever Rosie says!” He let out a mournful sigh and stared at the ceiling, looking the picture of discontent.

Rose laughed. “Stop trying to look so forlorn. How was it, anyway?”

“Pretty good. It was fine, and I payed for coffee, and we were having a conversation, and walked here, then we opened the front door, and there you were.” He raised his eyebrows at the three. “And when we went up he had to Scourgify the loft, because guess who made me have a potions accident?” Al now looked pointedly at Roxi.

“We get it, we ruined your love life.” Rose said, looking only slightly guilty. “Scooch up so we can all see the telly.”

 

Al rolled his eyes and scooted so he was wedged between Roxi and Rose. Seeing Rehan really had been amazing, he realized. At school, they rarely spoke, and Al had barely noticed him. But when he had received a call suggesting that he work on the link between chemistry and potions, he was already curious about who his partner would be. When he and Rehan met- well, met again- it took less than ten minutes for him to see that Rehan was brilliant. It was that, coupled with his Ravenclaw nature- how could anyone be that smart and still want to learn?- and the little things that drew Al to him.

Though Al would never admit it to Roxi and Rose, he was quite glad he now knew that Rehan was not dating anyone. It scared him that he was already so invested in Rehan- terrified because he didn’t know Rehan well enough to be in love, and didn’t know Rehan’s feelings, if he wanted anything more or less than being on good terms.

***

“Hey, Allycat, did you hear me?”

“Eh? Don’t call me Allycat!” Al elbowed Rose.

“Rosie,” Scorpius scolded, “don’t disturb Al when he’s daydreaming about Rehan.”

“I was not daydreaming!”

“See Cori, I didn’t disturb him! And plus he’s been at it for hours.”

“What is with you and disturbing nicknames today? Don’t call me Cori!” Scorpius folded his arms and pouted. “That’s a baby name.”

“And you’re so mature.” Roxi snarked. “Come on Cori, stop complaining. And Rose is right he’s daydreamed through four episodes of doctor who!”

“Hey! I was the one who said he was daydreaming. Merlin! That’s it! Al, lets go.”

“Wha- where’re we going?”

“Far away from evil people who call me Cori. Pub?”

“Oh, we’ll join you!”

Al groaned. “We’ll pretend we don’t know you.”

“You wish we’d let you get away with that.” Rose said.

“Fine,” Scor said, “but we should call Zach. You okay with that, Rox?”

“Whatever.” Roxi shrugged. “Let me go grab my coat. Where should we go?”

“We should go to the Silver Door, or maybe Jodi’s.” Al suggested.

“Clara’s working tonight, so not the Silver Door.” Roxi called out, head in the closet.

“Besides, those places are packed with Muggles. Why would you want to go there?”  Rose asked. “We should go to the one new place.”

“Real specific, Rosie-Posie.” Scorpius said with a gleam in his eyes. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“You know, the --”

“Cauldron Full of Hot Strong Drunks?” Al interjected.

“Merlin, is that really the name of a pub?”  

“It should be.” Al said.  

Scorpius made a face. “No, it really shouldn’t.”

“I meant Alchemist’s Guild, genius.” Rose said. “I don’t want to and never will want to go to Cauldron Full of Hot Strong Drunks. Why did you say that? You scarred me. Again!”

“The Guild it is!” Roxi exclaimed. “Al, send Zach a patronus. Tell him we’ll pick him up in two minutes.”

***

Three hours later all five of them walked out of the pub, most of them steady. “Seriously, Scorp!” Zach complained. “You didn’t even drink that much.”

“Hey, don’t make fun of my boyfriend!” Rose said, sliding under Scorpius’ arm to support him.

“You do it all the time!” Zach said.

“Yeah, well I’m allowed to.” Rose said firmly, then stumbled a little, under the added weight.

“I love you Rooooooosie!” Scorpius slurred. Al laughed as Scorpius smacked a  slimy kiss on Rose’s cheek. Rose looked appalled, but resisted the urge to wipe it away, knowing how that would probably make a drunk Scorpius cry.

“Love you too, Score”  Rose said,as Scorpius snuggled his head in the crook of her neck. “Okay, stand up straight.”

Scorpius stared at her for a second, then began to sing. “Nobody uup. Nobody uuup!”

“That isn’t a song, is it?” Al hissed to Roxi.

“Nope.”

“If I could sing I’d be rich!” Scorpius giggled.

“Really?” Rose said indulgently, glaring at the others, who were holding their sides in silent laughter.

“‘Cause then I could earn money while sleeping. By singing at weddings! And then I’d probably fall off the stage and die!”  Scorpius slurred.

Even Rose had begun to laugh. Al abruptly stopped, noticing Rehan and some friends kitty-corner from them. “You guys, shut up!” Al hissed, looking pointedly at Rehan.

“I died!” Scorpius yelled at the top of his lungs.

“No... you’re alive.” Rosie said comfortingly. She patted his shoulder to placate him.

“Yeah. Very much alive.” Al said firmly. “See, you can feel me!” he jabbed Scorpius is the ribs. “So shut up!”

“No, I’m not dead YET!” Scorpius insisted. Al noticed Rehan’s group of friends walking towards them. “I’m saying that if I had the ability to sing in my sleep I’d die.”

“Merlin, you only had one beer! Fine- Scor, I am sorry and will apologize to you tomorrow.” Al said guiltily. “Silencio!”

“Al, did you just silence my boyfriend?” Rose demanded protectively.

“Er- there are Muggles around!”

“Al, that won’t help you.” Roxi said in amusement.

“Hey, Al!” Rehan called. Al whipped around and stared. Rehan stepped forward quickly and hugged Al. “Put your wand away.” Rehan said quietly.

Al’s eyes widened. “What?” he breathed.

Rehan sighed, slid his hand down Al’s arm, pulled the wand out of Al’s hand and pushed it up

his own sleeve, before letting go of Al.

Roxi snickered. “Nice hug?”

Rose grinned. “You seemed to be having fun whispering sweet nothings in each others ears.”

Rehan flushed. “Er- Jake, Brian, Ben,” he said motioning to each of his friends. “Meet Al, Rose, Roxi, Zach, and Scorpius. We went to, um, highschool together.”

Everyone shook hands except for Scorpius, who was going around hugging everyone, including his own friends. “He’s... er... mute.” Zach said awkwardly.

 

“And drunk.” Rose added, patting Scorpius’s hair.

 

“...It’s nice to meet you, Scorpius.” Brian said after a pause. He was rewarded with another hug and a brilliant smile.

 

“So you guys have known each other awhile?” Jake asked. “Rehan never tells us about his high school.”

 

“Er- a while, yeah.” Rose agreed. “Roxi, Al and I are actually cousins. So are Zach and Scorpius. And we met Rehan when we were all, what, six? His sister was friends with our oldest cousin. And then we all knew each other in school, too.” She stumbled as Scorpius threw his arms around her again.

“And it was a boarding school, so we got to really know each other.” Roxi added, trying to distract from Scorpius.

 

“So Rehan, you and Al here...” Ben began innocently. Rehan and Albus glanced at each other.

 

“We’re just friends.” Rehan said.

 

“At the moment.” Roxi grinned, and Al shoved her into the street. “Hey!”

 

“Al! You could’ve killed her!” Zach said, yanking Roxanne back onto the pavement.

 

“Don’t touch me!” Roxi replied.

 

“Alright, well this was simply brilliant. We’ll have to do it again. Bye Rehan, nice meeting you three, but I just remembered we have a really urgent- er- thing. Now.” Al grabbed both Zach and Roxi by their arms and propelled them away from Rehan as quickly as he could.

 

“Yeah, bye.” Rose agreed, while Scorpius hugged everyone again, staggering from person to person. “Okay- Scorp, we’re gonna go home now.” She caught up to Al quickly.

 

“Well,” Al sighed, “at least- Oh, Merlin!”

 

“What?”

 

“Where’s my wand!” Al yelped.

 

Half a block down, Rehan cringed at the sound.

***

 

Albus heard a knocking on the door, and dragged himself out of bed, avoiding Scorpius’ corpse like body. In the living room, Rose and Roxi were lying on his couch. Al quietly walked over to  the door, and swung it open.

 

“Hi.” Rehan said, his hands in his pockets. “I have your wand.”

 

“You had my wand?” Al said. “Hang on- come in. How did you get it?”

 

Rehan walked in, and saw Scorpius and Zach sleepily exiting what could only be Al’s bedroom.

“How drunk were you?” Rehan asked, conversationally.

 

“Not that drunk.” Al said, then, seeing Scorpius and Zach, “Oh, definitely not that drunk. No way. Roxi and Rose are right on the couch, see?”

 

Rehan laughed. “No, I was just wondering how you didn’t remember me taking your wand out of your hand after telling you I was going to.”

 

“Sorry, my thoughts were elsewhere.” Al said sheepishly.

 

“I know where!” Rose, who had woken up, called out from the couch. She poked Roxi, who sat up.

 

“Yeah, we never did get to finish discussing that hug of yours.” Roxi agreed.

 

“It was the hug of all hugs.” Zach added.

 

“Excuse me while I search for some milk.” Al muttered, opening the freezer and sticking his head in.

 

“So long... so slow... so intimate,” Rose said, gazing off into the distance.

 

“It was the stuff of all girl’s wet dreams!” Roxi put in.

 

“It was- wait- what?” Scorpius demanded.

 

“Ohhh yes.” Rose said sweetly.

 

“Wait- what?! I don’t even- what hug are you talking about?”

 

“Clearly not the ones you bestowed upon us last night!” Al called from the freezer.

 

“Still haven’t found that milk, Al?” Rehan muttered through gritted teeth.

 

“No, it’s mysteriously absent.”

 

“I’ll help you look.”

 

“But what happened last-”

 

“Shh!” Zach interrupted, waving his hand at Scorpius. “I think they’re going to hug again!”

 

“We see them get closer... closer..” Rose said quietly, but dramatically. “We can see as the Ravenclaw approaches the Gryffindor, he tenses and removes his head from the milkless freezer.”

 

“Fascinating and majestic beasts,” Roxi began, more loudly, “their attraction is palpable, with the slight tilt of the head from each individual.”

“Watch how, under the pretense of shutting the refrigerator door, the Gryffindor head comes tellingly close to the Ravenclaw’s.” Zach pointed out. “And now, it looks as if-”

“I am not going to kiss him!” Al exclaimed, shoving the freezer door shut. He turned around, found himself face to face with Rehan, and stumbled backwards. Rehan grabbed his upper arms, and pulled Al towards himself. They found themselves facing each other, Al’s hands gripping Rehan’s forearms and Rehan still holding on to Al. There was a pregnant pause.

“Suure you aren’t.” Scorpius smirked.

“Okay, everybody out! Leave! Don’t torture me in my own house.” Al ordered, letting go of Rehan.

“But it’s a flat!”

“Al, I live here, so its mine too!”

“I don’t see you ordering Rehan out!”

Al reached into his pocket for his wand, then paused. Rehan held out Al’s wand, and Al grabbed it from him. “Wow, that feels much better.” Al said in relief.

“Does that mean we don’t have to leave?” Scorpius said hopefully, with puppy dog eyes.

“No- in the name of Merlin’s saggy bum, GET OUT!” Al insisted.

“Hey you guys, I think we should leave.” Zach suggested.

“Ooh, good idea. Now why didn’t I think of that?” Roxi asked. “But it’s a Saturday, so- Leaky Cauldron, anyone?” There were three nods, and four cracks as they Apparated out.

“Er- sorry.” Al said. He smiled hopefully at Rehan, who shook his head.

“No, I know your family. I got off pretty lightly.”

“How?”

“Reena’s stories were always very colourful.” Rehan said lightly. “Actually, I wanted to check if you were free to work on the project today. I don’t have classes on the weekend, and after this week it’s the spring hols anyway.”

“Sounds good.” Al agreed. “I’ve cancelled most of my orders for the next couple days so that we can work on the project.”

“Alright.” Rehan agreed, walking towards the spiral staircase that led up to the loft. “One quick question, though: did you notice that Scorpius and  Zach just apparated to the pub in their boxers, and decide not to tell them?”

Al stared. “They apparated to a pub without trousers?”

“Yeah.”

“Serves them right.” Al grumbled, and followed Rehan up into the loft.

***

Over the next few weeks Al and Rehan slowly began to pull their project together in a, mostly, coherent manner. They spent hours holed up in Al’s lab testing chemical reactions, catalyst spells, and attempting to swap muggle chemistry ingredients for magical one and vice versa. Overall it was going well, though there were times when the hydroxide solution would react badly with the pickled newt skin and the two men would end up coated head to toe with large purple pustules.

Well that had only happened once, but there were several times Al’s lab, sofa and all, had to be thoroughly cleaned with Mimzy’s Magical Mess Remover, due to an exploding cauldron or even due to a fume induced bout of aggressive vomiting.

It was after one such adventure, that Al found himself cursing a blue streak. It was the second time that day that the puffer fish scales had caused their muggle chemical solution to explode, when it should have turned the potion a clear blue equivalent to the modern cure for boils. As the two were cleaning up the mess, Al berated himself over and over again, because just after Rehan had added the scales to the mixture, Al had calculated what went wrong the first time, but before he could share this lovely tidbit, he realized that his ogling Rehan’s arse, had lost them a cauldron and several hours of their time.

Normally Al wouldn't have minded, cauldrons were cheap and they had plenty of time, but one desaster per day was really his limit, after all he was trying to make a good impression. The more time the two spent together, the more Al was realizing how amazing it felt to be working, and talking, and just being, with Rehan. He felt as though Rehan fit so perfectly into his life, and it wasn’t just concerning work either. Often the two would step out for a quick lunch at Al’s favorite falafel place, and after they finished up with work for the day they usually went out for drinks and chitchat.

As Al got to know Rehan he was also realizing that he was, in fact, as far gone on this bloke as Rose and Roxi were claiming. He started catching himself noticing his heart race  stepped into the room, or how he would tense with the slightest brush of the their shoulders, and he prayed that Rehan didn’t notice how he was always leaning in far closer than necessary. Rehan had become his friend, and he didn’t want to lose that because he couldn’t keep his Weasley love in check. Maybe later he’d confess his feelings to Rehan. Maybe after their presentation. Certainly, not now.

***

“There’s a problem, Al.”

Al glanced up from the potion he was meticulously brewing. It was to be one of the final products that they would be using for their presentation, and they couldn’t afford to make a mistake. “Yeah?”

“Well, there’s this thing...”

“What’s it have to do with our project?” Al said, a bit brusquely, wanting to get back to his potion.

Rehan smiled a little too fondly before answering. “I have to go to a family dinner thing tonight- I told them I had to work, but they wouldn’t believe me.”

“What? No, you need to stay here- we need both of us to work on this tonight, or we won’t get it done before the deadline.”

“I know, so I was thinking, you can come with and explain that we really need to be working, not sitting around drinking chai. If you stayed for some time, it would make up for me not being there. And besides, both of us need to be here for the potion anyway.”

“Mmm, the potion will be done in five minutes, we can go then.” Al replied distractedly.

Ten minutes later they found themselves walking up the pathway to Rehan’s childhood home. Now that the potion was finished and cooling, Al was actually able to hold a conversation. “So, when you say family get together, what does that include? Because, a Weasley family get together is either a disaster or not the whole family.”

“Just the immediate family. And my grandmothers. And my cousins.”

“Okay. Should we ring the doorbell?”

“No,” Rehan said, pushing the door open, and stepping slightly in front of Al.

“MAAA! Rehan’s here!” Sang Aditi, Rehan’s younger sister as she popped her head around the corridor. “And he brought a friend!” She smiled at Al a little mischievously. Within seconds several other people swarmed into the room: Reena- who he knew quite well, because of her close friendship with Victoire-  her partner, Jacob, a woman wearing heavy eyeliner and smirk, and a tiny old witch wearing a neon pink saari, who could only have been Rehan’s grandmother.    

“So this is the guy who my baby brother decided was more important than his entire family,” drawled the smirking face.

“That’s my sister, Shiney,” Rehan interjected for Al’s benefit.

Shiney, ignored this and continued, “I don’t get it, Rehan, he so-- so scrawny.”

“Is not,” Rehan huffed under his breath. Reena raised her eyebrows at him, but didn’t draw attention to his muttering.

Shiney continued to appraise Al for a moment before twirling her finger, “turn!” she barked. When Al just glanced at Rehan in confusion, she raised her eyebrow, “turn around,” she clarified.

“Hutt, bichaara peheli bar yahaa ayaa hain!” Rehan’s grandmother scolded Shiney in Hindi, taking pity on Al. “Don’t worry, you’ll make an excellent husband for my Rehan.”

Rehan went red, wondering why he had thought that bringing Al over was a good idea. “Dadi, we’re n-”

“Thank you,” Al said, sounding pleased. Feeling Rehan’s stare and realising what he had just said, Al blushed and studiously avoided eye contact with Rehan.

His grandmother didn’t seem to notice the suddenly awkward atmosphere, and continued beaming at Al. “Come, come, sit down!” She said, ushering everyone into the sitting room.

When just Rehan, Aditi and Shiney remained in the doorway, Aditi muttered, “So what’s the deal, are you dating him?”

Rehan scowled at the two, “No, no we’re not.”

“But you want to, right?” Aditi pressed as Shiney’s twin Gauri appeared in the hallway with them.

“Oh, trust me, Rehan wants all sorts of things when it comes to Al,” Shiney said with an evil grin.

“STOP, just no, WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!” Rehan screeched, knowing full well he couldn’t honestly deny his sisters’ claims, but the fact  remained that Rehan had no idea if Al even thought of him that way.

“Merlin, Ravenclaw’s are so sexually repressed!” The three sisters chorused, before realizing that the house had gone silent with their proclamation.

Rehan looked into the sitting room with wide eyes seeing Reena, Jacob, Al, his parents, his grandmothers, Saumya Chachi, Raj Chacha, and his cousins, Abhishek, Anjali, and Aseem, all eyeing him expressions of amusement or confusion.

Finally, Al, not dealing well with the awkward silence said, “Guys come here, and sit down. There’s plenty of space,” while patting the sofa cushions on either side of himself.

Guari and Shiney quickly obliged, sandwiching Al between them, leaving Aditi to take a seat next to her mother, while Rehan collapsed pitifully next to Reena, and rested his head on her shoulder in defeat.

“So Rehan, introduce us all to your guest,” Velhiammachi, Rehan’s other grandmother, said with a sweet smile.

“Erm...” Rehan started.

“This is Al, Velhiammachi, I think Rehan has forgotten,” Shiney said throwing her arm around Al, who actually looked quite at home in the midst of the family.

“You seem to be handling our crazy family quite well,” one of the the cousins commented.

“Oh,” Al said sounding confused, “is it hard for most people?”

Gauri giggled, “Do you remember Reena’s friend Vic? She had a huge family? Well, Al is her cousin.”

“So he’s related to Harry Potter?” Rehan’s uncle said, impressed.

“Er,” Al started, with a touch of embarrassment.

“He’s Harry Potter’s son,” Shiney said proudly, patting him hard on the back.

“Arre waa!” Dadi said excitedly, slaping her hands together, “see Rishi, this Al fellow is perfect for Rehan!”

 

Rehan jumped up, “Chai, anyone?” But before anyone could reply he practically ran into the kitchen. He was so embarrassed, he should never have dragged Al over. He’d forgotten how evil his sisters were, when they wanted to be. And ever since he’d come out, bringing any friend that was a boy over, was an occasion that Gauri and Aditi tended to join Shiney in the evil boat. Normally Rehan wouldn’t mind too much, and this time he actually did really like Al, but  he didn’t want Al to think he talked to his family about them getting married because they weren’t dating.

A voice behind him caused him to jump, “so marriage, huh?” Al said casually, leaning on the counter across from Rehan. “Gauri  sent me in here to ‘learn how to make chai,’ but I have a sneaking suspicion that her intentions weren’t totally pure.”

When Rehan looked horrified Al added, “Don’t worry I wouldn’t mind that.” Realizing what he said Al choked, “You know because I’ve always wanted to make chai.”

“Yeah, chai,” Rehan replied slowly, his mind was racing -- did Al mean to say that? Or did he really just want to learn to make chai? His sisters were in so much trouble.

“Okay, so first you have to mix the milk and water and bring it to a boil,” Rehan began, as he poured milk and water into a pan, trying not to notice that Al was standing right behind him to listen. “Then after it starts to boil,” he waved his wand and the liquid started to bubble, “add the tea leaves,” he added a heaping spoon of Darjeeling tea, “here you do the rest, we need two more spoons.” He took a step back as Al took the spoon and scooped out the tea, bringing to spoon up to eye level as if this were a potion he couldn’t afford to mess up. Rehan couldn’t help but smile; unconsciously he leaned forward so he was inches away from Al, looking over his shoulder.

“What?!” Al demanded. “Why are you smiling, did I mess up?”

Rehan cleared his throat and stepped away from Al again, “No, er, that looks good. So now we just let it sit for a while,” he flicked his wand again, and cups flew from the cupboards. “Accio sugar,” Rehan called.

Al grinned, “So four pounds of sugar per cup right?”

Rehan rolled his eyes, “No, three pounds for me and everyone else can share the one pound that’ll be left.”

“OI, you lot,” Aditi called, “how long does it take to make chai?”

Rehan spelled the chai into the cups and handed Al the sugar bowl. “COMING, calm down, Aditi.” The two boys stepped out into the sitting room, only to see Gauri and Shiney leaning on wall on either side of the door frame, wearing twin smirks. Shit.

***

It was nearly twelve by the time the two of them got back to Al’s apartment. Despite their protest, not a single member of Rehan’s family would stand for them leaving after chai refusing to believe that the two of them actually needed to work. Finally, they had both given in and decided to stay for dinner, as long as they did finish some work after dinner was done. Only once they had left Rehan’s parents’ did they realize how late it was, but both men were determined to get at least a bit of work done before turning in for the night.

At three the two were still in the lab, sitting on the ancient sofa, trying to peel their eyelids open to write just one more sentence, finish just one paragraph, one last page. They were both silent and focused, but Rehan was starting to notice the way Al’s breathing would slow and the way his shoulders would droop. Rehan could feel his own eyelids growing heavy, but he still had a little while left in him before sleep would become inevitable.

Or that’s what he thought anyway, until he felt the weight of Al’s slumbering head on his shoulder. Struck with how adorable Al looked in the peace of sleep, focusing became increasingly difficult for Rehan. Of course it did not help that Al had slowly been moving into his space, throwing his arm across Rehan’s chest, as he slept.

“You hate me don’t you, Al?” Rehan yawned, putting his parchment aside, and sliding down to rest his head on the sofa’s threadbare armrest. Almost instantly he was wrapped up in a cocoon of Al, and almost as quickly, Rehan also fell asleep.

Neither scientist woke up with the sun, and they slept through Roxi’s photography expedition to the loft. When they did wake up, neither Al or Rehan mentioned the night’s cuddling.

***

Two nights later, Al slammed the book shut and grabbed another from the stacks that were crammed into the loft. “I couldn’t cross-reference the bit about the possible magical basis of the Big Bang,” he said in irritation. “Are you sure the book is in this stack?”

“Positive.” Rehan said, carefully waving his wand and trying to get the pieces of paper to arrange themselves artistically. “Remind me why we forgot to put together the actual presentation and to make a bibliography until the night before we have to present?”

“We just make an excellent team.” Al grinned. “Technically, we started yesterday afternoon, but then midnight happened, and now its now.”

“I wonder where all the time in between went.” Rehan said dryly.

“Blame... blame James.”

“He wasn’t even here!”

“It’s always James’ fault.”

“Fair enough, now don’t distract me. Or yourself.”

“Fine.” Al grumbled, opening the book again. “It better be in this one.” They worked in silence for several minutes, both focusing intently on finishing before morning. After a bit, Al spoke again. “Finally found it,” he announced, “and now we only need to find the other million sources.”

“Have fun.”

Al glared. “You know that the minute you finish putting that together, you’re helping me with this, right?” He stuck his nose in another book.

“Well, I dou--” He was cut off when Al abruptly dropped the book, leaned over, and kissed him.

By the time Rehan had realized what was going on, Al had pulled away. They stared blankly at each other for a moment, till Al snatched up a book, opened it, and held it in front of his face, upside down.

“Having fun finding sources?” Rehan said, scooting closer and grinning.

“I’m reading.”

Rehan placed his index finger on top of the book and tilted it away from Al’s face.

“I’m sorry.” Al said quickly.

“Don’t be.” Rehan said. Nearly a minute passed by, with Al staring blankly at Rehan. “I’m saying I want to kiss you.” Rehan explained slowly. Al was unresponsive. “Oh, Gryffindors are so slow!” Rehan complained, as he leaned forward and kissed Al.

***

They were still finishing up the last details of their presentation when there came a long knock on the door. “Al, have you left yet? Your presentation is going to start in a half hour!”

“What! Roxi, why didn’t you- oh, nevermind. Al pulled open the trapdoor to see Roxi’s upturned face. “Can you please make coffee? Strong coffee?”

“Sure.”

“Me too,” Rehan called from the corner, where he was shrinking a cauldron full of their demonstrative potion.

“Wait, is Rehan up there?” Roxi grinned in satisfaction.

“No! Well, yes. But not like that.”

“You have bedhead.” Roxi informed Al smugly. She began to descend the stairs.

“We were up all night!”

“I’ll get that coffee,” Roxi said, “you two better behave!”

Rehan looked up. “D’you think she thought-”

“Nope. I don’t know what she was talking about.” He waved his wand, gathering all the papers into a stack. “Everything is ready, right?”

“Let’s double check.”

“Are you kidding? We’re leaving now.” Al grabbed Rehan’s arm and pulled him towards the door. “Roxi, is the coffee ready?”

“Yeah, sure.” Roxi held out two mugs. “Drink on the way. We can talk about last night later.” She waggled her eyebrows.

“Nothing happened last night!” Al insisted. “Rehan, let’s go.”

“See you in twenty minutes!” Roxi called out.

“You’re coming?”

“Everyone is! Now go, hurry!”

Al groaned, but hurried over to the fireplace anyway. “Rehan, do I look professional?”

“Professional enough.” Rehan said. He grabbed a handful of Floo powder and shoved Al into the fireplace.

Once in the Ministry of Magic, the two hurried down to the second floor, where their presentation was due to take place. “Room 265” Rehan said, looking around. “Here, this is it.”

“Ugh.” Al shuddered as he stepped into the hearing room. “I feel like I’m going to be on trial.”   They were standing inside a circle, and around them on all sides were rows of seats, stretching up towards the ceiling.

Rehan laughed. “There are thirty-two rows of seats.”

“Huh?”

“We’re in the thirty-third circle of hell.”

“You’re making this up.”

“No, like in Dante!”

“Oh, that old Muggle dude!” Al smiled in triumph.

Rehan sighed. “Forget it.” He started pulling things out of their bag while Al conjured up a table to work on.

“Oh excellent, boys. You have arrived! It is a pleasure to finally meet you,” a high voice called out from behind them. Both of them turned around at once. A short, round man with a bushy white mustache and a green-tinged complexion met their eyes. He was wearing a pair of heeled purple dragon skin cowboy boots, a round set of spectacles, and a forest-green velvet suit. A top hat was perched precariously upon his head.

“Yes, er- who- what-?”

“What Al means to say, if you will pardon us, is who are you, exactly?” Rehan said in confusion.

“I am Paisley Greenfield, your benefactor,” the man said sounding please with himself. He put his hand up for shaking.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Al said, shaking his hand and eyeing his boots.

“Yes, thank you.” Rehan shook as well.

“I am the head of the committee deciding whether or not there will be further research and investigation into this connection between chemistry and potions,” he said, bouncing on his toes. “I must admit to being a bit of a Muggle expert- I do hope your research will be useful for the Ministry’s continuing investigation.”

“Of course. We were just setting up right now.”

“I’ll have a seat, then!” He climbed three rows up and clambered into one of the chairs. “The doors will open at 8:00 to the public, be ready by then so we can start your presentation at 8:15.”

“His feet are pointing straight at our heads.”  Al muttered with a frown. “I didn’t know legs could be that short.”

“Come on Al,” Rehan said cheerfully, waving his wand around, “you were a kid once too.”

Al frowned in confusion, as more Ministry officials began to walk in. “Let’s just finish putting everything together, and then we can do the presentation and go home. We can celebrate!”

“We can sleep.” Rehan corrected. “We didn’t get to sleep all night!”

They heard a snicker behind them. “Did my baby brother finally get laid?” Reena crooned. She, Gauri, Aditi, and Shiney stood behind the two boys, Aditi with a sympathetic expression on her face, and Shiney with an amused smirk.

“No!” Rehan insisted. “We  wouldn’t- not before our presentation!” Al rolled his eyes.

“Reena, perhaps not an appropriate topic right now?”

“Or ever.” Rehan grumbled.

“Or ever,” Aditi agreed, feeling sorry for her big brother.

“Come on you two stop being such prudes!” Gauri and Shiney laughed, receiving a fierce glare Rehan.

“Well,” Al started. “I think there may be situation where it’s perfectly appro—”

“So about the newt legs, Al,” Rehan interrupted. Reena, being pregnant, almost peed herself laughing, while Shiney grinned at Al approvingly.

“Fine, we can discuss our sex life later.” Seeing Rehan’s mortified face, Al decided to change the subject.  “Here, hand me the muggle potion, so we can display the samples,” Al said brushing Rehan’s shoulder, albeit unnecessarily, to grab their notes for the presentation. “Do you lot want to sit down? The presentation starts in only a few minutes anyway.”

“Don’t talk about that!” Rehan exclaimed, suddenly panicking.

Shiney sighed, as if she had been denied a great treat. “He’s just having an anxiety attack now. I’ll leave you to it Rehan.”

Al turned to look at Rehan who had now picked up their report and seemed to be reading through it one more time. “Al, we let the mixed potion stew for 25 minutes, right?”

“Yes, we did.”

“And you double checked that the muggle one was the same as the actual muggle version?”

“Mmm-hmm”

“We checked with a chemist and everything, right? Why did I even agree to do this thing?”

“Yup. You did that bit. Look, we’re going to be fine, the presentation will go perfe- well, as perfectly as it could go given how last minute it was. And even if it doesn’t, it’ll be alright- it isn’t as if this is a actual full time job or anything, and we can just go to the nearest pub and get pissed, can’t we?” Seeing that Rehan looked much less pale but not wholly convinced, Al tried again. “Besides,” he grinned, “without this project you’d never have realized what a catch I am.”

Rehan rolled his eyes, “Idiot.”

Al shrugged, “You love me anyway,” he joked.

“Yeah, I do.” Rehan said, completely seriously.

“What?!” Al said, whipping around to face Rehan.

“Well gentlemen,” Al groaned as Paisley Greenfield stepped in front of their table, bouncing on his ridiculous boots. Couldn’t Rehan have waited until after this whole thing to say something like that with such seriousness. There was no way Al was going to make it through their presentation now. “It is time for you two to enlighten us all  with your muggle-magic healing!”

***

Immediately after the presentation was over, people began to swarm toward the two men. Surprisingly, despite his short legs, Paisley Greenfield managed to reach them first, and both Al and Rehan found themselves having their hands vigorously shaken.

“Excellent job, really excellent,” he exclaimed. “You know, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Ministry decided to continue research into this. It really is fantastic. And I say this, of course, as someone who knows quite a bit about Muggles- really, that muggle potion was quite brilliantly made.”

“Er, thank you.” Al said, having gotten over the initial shock of meeting the man. “We were working very hard, night and day, weren’t we Rehan?”

“Very.” Rehan agreed. Now that the presentation was over, and thanks to Al’s words, all colour had come back to his face.

Paisley Greenfield looked like he was going to say more, but by now Al’s family had caught up- Rehan’s was nowhere to be seen- and the green suited man was swept away. Replacing him were Rose, Roxi, Zach, Scorpius, Al’s parents, Lily, Lily’s girlfriend Alice, and  James. Harry and Ginny gave a quick congratulation before each of them headed back to work.

“Bumblebee!” Lily said cheerfully to Rehan. “Roxi says she has photographic evidence of you and my brother cuddling. I should warn you that he clings like the Giant Squid. And he drools. And he’s a bit of an idiot.”

“Bumblebee?” Al demanded. “How come Lily gets to call you a cutesy nickname? And besides, none of those are true.”

“The giant squid thing is sort of true, Al” Rehan said thinking of how Al had fallen asleep on him a few night before.

“Ahem,” James frowned, “How do you know my baby brother is a squid?!”

Roxi looked shocked. “Didn’t I tell you I found these two lovebirds sleeping in each other’s arms twice in the last three days?”

James’ jaw dropped with surprise.“Oh shove off James, we all know  you still suck your thumb when you sleep!” Al said, to defend himself.

“Okay,” Scorpius said, “I’ll leave you all to your sibling-ness, I on the other hand must get going, or Victoire will make me do extra filing.” Rose gave him a peck on the lips, much to James’ horror, and Scorpius took off to the Auror department.

“Well, I think Cori’s got a point, common Rox, we have to go play in the department of mysteries,” Rose sang.

“Later, Potters,” Roxi said walking away. “And you too Alice,” she added as an after thought.

“Did you forget me?” Rehan called.

Rose turned around, “No, we said your name.”

“So what are your intentions towards my--” James was cut off with Al’s groan  of exasperation.

“No, he’s right Al,” Lily agreed innocently.

“That’s it,” Al said pushing his siblings away. “Leave. Now.”

Lily looked as if she was planning to protest, but Alice cut her off, “Lil’ let’s go home.” Alice wrapped an arm around Lily’s waist, as Lily nodded.

“See ya bros, me and Alice have some business to attend to,” Lily smirked, eyebrows raised.

“I hate both of you,” Al grumbled pulling Rehan out of the room. When they were outside in the fresh air he said, “I think that went pretty well don’t you?”

“Which part?” Rehan asked. “The research, the brewing, the presenting, the kissing, the meet the family...

“All of it, especially the kissing,” Al said firmly.

“You know that my entire family thinks we fucked, right?”

“Well, so does mine, really, it’s a shame we haven’t,” Al said absentmindedly, blushing when he processed the words that had left his mouth. There was a pause. “So, do you want to come over and take nap?”

Rehan smiled, “Sorry Al, I think I’m a little bit too tired for a nap.”

Al looked confused for a moment before saying, “Not that kind of nap you dolt, a real nap.”

“Well in that case,” Rehan grinned.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> First attempt at a fanfic, hope it wan't too bad! :)


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